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Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#101

Post by sesqu »

buremba wrote: post #72

Even if you stop watching TV, reading newspapers and following the political people on social media and avoid discussing political news with people, you can't escape from him and his followers. They will force you to believe what they believe and if you don't, they will flag you and also make you listen their leader no matter what you do to avoid their propaganda. Even though I believe that the leaders of Gulenist gr…

> Gulenist group did the coup attempt

Has the government provided convincing evidence of this? I know Gülen was immediately accused despite not being in the country, but I don't know of any evidence of his audience being involved beyond Erdoğan not getting along with the guy, which automatically makes any opposition sympathetic to him.

Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#102

Post by sesqu »

JadeNB wrote: post #91
acjohnson55 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird, kinda like the US.

> Weird, kinda like the US. Which part of aytekin ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14780685 ) 's message reminds you of the US? Whatever else one may say of the current state of US politics, this: > the other half of the population took over the country and started applying middle eastern and Islamic ideals instead. … the islamists see west as evil. doesn't sound like it. (To be fair, I didn't quote: > They bel…

Replace "the west" with "globalism" and "islamic" with "evangelical", and you'll see a comparable sentiment in the US.

Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#103

Post by batuhanicoz »

throwaway76493 wrote: post #100

There is something equally insane happening on the Turkish internets right now. At least two major mobile operators / ISPs are injecting JS into web traffic to display pop-up ads / Youtube videos on the lower right corner of every web page. The videos "commemorate" last year's events on July 15 in a language that is, to put it mildly, thorougly in line with Erdogan's ideology, and make a point of offering free data a…

Yeah, I've noticed the injected video my ISP, Turkcell Superonline. Only works with sites with no HTTPS/HTTP->HTTPS redirection since they can't proxy sites with SSL.

Interestingly, I don't get the Erdogan's message on my cell. My friends tried calling me last night to hear the message, they don't hear it when they call me either. Could be related to me using my networks -paid- call ring tone customising app.

Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#104

Post by enimodas »

matt4077 wrote: post #99
noncoml wrote: post #45

I wonder how would things have been if Turket had been accepted to EU 10 years ago. Would it have helped?

Yes, almost certainly. They wouldn't have had to become a member back then. All that was needed was a realistic path to membership. Instead, some influential EU leaders basically said "It's never going to happen", sometimes under pressure from their countries' right wing. Not because Turkey was economically too far behind, or because of concerns with the rule of law, but simply because a sizeable portion of EU popula…

Why should they accept a country that's not in Europe for 95% of its landmass? Not to mention the huge cultural gap.

Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#105

Post by batuhanicoz »

mustaflex wrote: post #23
mrtksn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry you feel that way but I think it is a fascinating example of governments interference in the communication channels. I wrote the political information to give a context. The information is factually correct, it's not my interpretation except defining the message as a propaganda message.

They did play a message from Ergodan when you call any number but only for clients of 2 mobile operators: Turkcell and Vodafone. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/telefonla-konusmak-isteyenlere-er... Link in turkish but it confirms what this post says.

Which is even more interesting, considering there are only 3 real real (not a MVNO) operators in Turkey and only one not playing this message is Turk Telekom.

A company that was founded by the government, even now partially owned by the government.

Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#106

Post by mrtksn »

sesqu wrote: post #101
buremba wrote: post #72

Even if you stop watching TV, reading newspapers and following the political people on social media and avoid discussing political news with people, you can't escape from him and his followers. They will force you to believe what they believe and if you don't, they will flag you and also make you listen their leader no matter what you do to avoid their propaganda. Even though I believe that the leaders of Gulenist gr…

> Gulenist group did the coup attempt Has the government provided convincing evidence of this? I know Gülen was immediately accused despite not being in the country, but I don't know of any evidence of his audience being involved beyond Erdoğan not getting along with the guy, which automatically makes any opposition sympathetic to him.

AFAIK the evidence is that well known civilian Gulen affiliates were caught in military bases and armoured vehicles on the coup night but a concrete evidence of Gulen himself giving the orders do not exist. A bit like the story of the Russian military personnel in Ukraine(like everything points to Russia but Kremlin denies any involvement and claims that the caught soldiers were on a vacation in war zone).

If you want to read more about the subject, here is a nice write up by pro-Erdogan, liberal, non-islamist(yep, they still exist) Turkish jurnos: https://medium.com/@15thJulyCoup/who-was-behind-the-15th-jul...

Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#107

Post by glenndebacker »

buremba wrote: post #72

Even if you stop watching TV, reading newspapers and following the political people on social media and avoid discussing political news with people, you can't escape from him and his followers. They will force you to believe what they believe and if you don't, they will flag you and also make you listen their leader no matter what you do to avoid their propaganda. Even though I believe that the leaders of Gulenist gr…

The reality is that this not only stops at the Turkish borders. Pro Erdogan media easily finds it message abroad through TV satellite channels for examples.

There was a study or survey here in Belgium that those channels are the only way a lot of the Turkish community receives their news and information. What we have seen after the coup was an extremely uprising in violence and threats (last month even a murder) between pro erdogan supporters and non supporters. And from all EU countries I think they voted the most pro-Erdogan.

And while its too easy to make a correlation between the two, I personally do think this has some influence at least. Media is a very powerful tool.

Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#108

Post by consp »

StavrosK wrote: post #76
mrtksn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He says: "I would like to congratulate the 15th of of July, the democracy and national unity day. I pray to God for the Martyrs and I wish health and prosperity to our wounded" It may sound benign but the actors and they way the coup attempt happened are disputed and close to half of the population does not subscribe to the official accounts. The main opposition leader claims that the coup attempt happened under supe…

There is some... interesting evidence pointing that way, e.g. how the coup was done when Erdogan was nowhere to be found and safe. As far as I can tell, it was either orchestrated by him, or the organizers were supremely incompetent in even the most basic details (who starts a coup without knowing where the damn target is?).

It would not be the first coup to fail because of bad timing. It is likely that, if it was a not a government organised shenanigan, the organizers panicked and enforced their plans too early making a mess of the timing and available data.

On the other hand, considering the effectiveness of the government dealing with it and speed of how everything happened after the coup was struck down (and yes, I'm biased due to lack of proper reporting like everyone everywhere) it sure smells like a well orchestrated coup, only not from the people who are currently being prosecuted but from those prosecuting.

I'm going to do a Godwin here and get Martinus van der Lubbe involved. You can figure out the rest.

Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#109

Post by pjc50 »

greglindahl wrote: post #44
coldtea wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you opt not to have a Queen and not be a subject to some royal family you never voted for or agreed to?

Yes. The UK could vote to abolish the monarchy, but they haven't. In a typical democracy, you are subject to laws that you didn't vote for or "agree to". A modern constitutional monarchy is a structure agreed to by the people.

This is an extremely stupid, reductionist discussion that shows the difference between theoretical and practical freedoms.

While the Queen's approval is theoretically required for legislation and various other bits of constitutional machinery, in practice it is always granted.

The objections to the Queen's role in the power structure are theoretical; nobody can point to specific bad actions as justification for changing the system.

The objections to Erdogan are much more practical and involve suppression of opposition and journalists.

Re: Turkish GSM networks currently play a message of the President on any phone call

#110

Post by pjc50 »

OzzyB wrote: post #22

I don't understand what the problem is. How is this any different from the Queen of England taking over the entire UK airwaves for a half-hour speech on Christmas Day? /s

That's not a takeover, it's something the BBC could choose not to do if they didn't want to.
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